"No indication" Moscow has cracked down on criminal ransomware groups, top U.S. official says

There has been "no indication" the Russian government has tried to rein in criminal ransomware groups known to be operating from its soil, a top FBI official said Tuesday, despite the repeated insistence in recent months by the U.S. government that it should do so. 

"Based on what we've seen, I would say there is no indication that the Russian government has taken action to crack down on ransomware actors that are operating in the permissive environment that they've created there," said Paul Abbate, deputy director of the FBI. "We've asked for help and cooperation with those who we know are in Russia, who we have indictments against, and we've seen no action." 

"So I would say that nothing's changed in that regard," he said.